Shirley Chisholm Social Sciences Essay Research Paper (Essay Sample)

Shirley Chisholm
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Shirley Chisholm
Born on November 30, 1924, in Brooklyn, Shirley Chisholm, an African American, is one of the American women who have made profound political history not just as a woman but as a woman of color (Martin & Chapman, 2010). Significantly, Chisholm began her political journey in the 1940s by being an active attendee of political clubs in which various members of the community, both whites and blacks, met to discuss various issues affecting the city. Unlike many politicians, however, Chisholm was not only genuine in her endeavors to better the lives of others, but also exhibited the features of a true leader. Having temporarily retired from politics to focus on the well-being of children in Brooklyn, Chisholm was touched with the poor conditions many families lived in, lives largely characterized by substantial degrees of inequalities between the rich and the poor (Martin & Chapman, 2010). Such inequalities are what encouraged her to become much involved with the government as an advocate for the less privileged members of the society, hence shaping her future political path.
However, becoming an active politician wasn’t her initial aim until she became part of Bedford-Stuyvesant Political League, an organization that had drawn her interest and in which its philosophies involved advocating for the minority, mostly the black community (Curwood, 2015). It is through the organization that Chisholm became inspired to venture much into politics and that saw her become the first black female to be voted to Congress (Curwood, 2015). Accordingly, her political career was largely shaped by her endeavor to see to it that there was equality irrespective of one’s skin color.